Misery Loves Its Company
by Moon-Goddess-Ryuu
Summary: Its been a few years after another attack on Knothole from Robonik. Ryuu, a cat-fox with a condition that forced her to wander at night, is being stalked by a girl that is very strange. Not only that, the girl has a fabled gem that should not exist....
1. Chapter 1: Enter Ryuu

Chapter One: Enter Ryuu

As delicate as it seemed, twisting the little flower about in her hand, it in itself was a strong little plant. Stronger than she'd ever be, she thought to herself. Ryuu sighed, looking around as she sat in her perch in her favorite maple, overlooking Knothole upon a hill. She could tell that late at night was the best when to go out, because of her condition. The condition was rare, of course, but her pure white fur coat was a sign, as well as the sickly color of her skin beneath. Her hair, a stark contrast was black. That never seemed to change. The fox-cat looked around, waving her bushy tail slightly when she heard the faint call of her name. Pricking her ear, she smiled slightly from her gloom when a small rabbit came running to her, colored a beautiful light brown with darker brown markings. The little rabbit jumped up and down a bit, clapping her hands and giggling as a small chao with a red bow finally caught up with her.

"Miss Nakamura! I knew I would find you here!" said the rabbit in a bell-like voice. She pulled out of her pocket a small handkerchief, unwrapping it, revealing two small chocolate-chip cookies.

Ryuu winced at being called her last name. Last time she heard those words were when her parents perished in the invasion of Eggman's robots to Knothole over a few years ago. All she could do was cower in the corner. She was nothing like Sonic and the Freedom Fighters. They all had abilities beyond their control, and yet, even being a cousin to Miles—Tails, as he was called—she had no abilities it seemed. She shook off her musings, turning her attention to the small creature that held out the cookies as if it were an offering. She smiled, jumping down and sweeping the rabbit off her feet and making her giggle. "Little Cream, dear, you are too kind. Tell me, has your mother recovered from her cold?" she asked, and picking up the chao into her arms as well, smiling at the two.

Cream laughed, almost crushing the sweets in her hand as Cheese landed next to her, the chao giggling in its own way as well. She nodded, taking a cookie and plucking it into Ryuu's mouth. "Yes. Momma is doing well, Miss Nakamura. She knew we'd come to see you, and she was sorry she could not come." The rabbit nodded, taking the other cookie and breaking it in half, putting it into Cheese's little arms and then munching on her half. She swallowed, and then continued. "She wants you to come home with us. She wants the doctor to look at you to see if you were doing any better."

Ryuu nodded, knowing she'd had to obey. After all, Miles could not care for his older cousin; he was too young to understand. All he knew was that she had an illness that made her stay at home a lot. Because of this, as smart as he was, Ryuu forbade him to come see her in the night. She felt ashamed of what she was. Her father's family, a disgrace to the Nakamura family line, who lived in New Mobotropolis. Ryuu's mind was brought back to Mobius when Cream took her hand and pulled her along through the village, passing several huts whose lights had been turned out for the night. She was then brought to a hut with flowers all around it in a neat garden. The door opened before Cream could knock, and Cheese zoomed in, flying over to a small bed, dropping there and curling up. Cream walked over and pulled the covers over the small chao, kissing the chao "good-night" and turning to her mother.

Vanilla, her face showing she was a bit tired, but well, nodded to her little rabbit and turned her attention to the girl standing in her doorway. Vanilla was dressed in a pink robe, with a pair of white fuzzy slippers on her feet. Ryuu could tell Vanilla had been slightly sick. The older rabbit motioned for the cat-fox to come over, and Ryuu obeyed. Vanilla immediately checked both of Ryuu's ears, eyes, and then checked the pulse at the base of her neck. Vanilla's cool fingers made Ryuu tremble slightly, making Vanilla shake her head slightly. "I am calling the doctor immediately. Your pulse is strong, but it seems as if your immune system is weakening. I am not sure how long he will be, but there is someone in the other room who wishes to see you."

Ryuu nodded, paling a bit more. _Please don't let it be…._ She thought, but she answered Vanilla with a quiet, "Yes, Mother." After the attack a few years ago, Vanilla took in Ryuu as a child of her own, making sure that Ryuu was taken care of.

Vanilla sighed slightly, and walking over holophone, clicking a button as an old beaver appeared on the screen, adjusting his spectacles and smiling warmly at Vanilla and nodded his head. "Ah, Ms. Rabbit, nice to see that you are looking better this evening. Able to coax Ryuu from her hiding place tonight, I take it? Wonderful, I will be right over." With that last statement the holophone went black. Vanilla nodded, looking down at her appearance and gasped, rushing into her room and then apologizing to the occupant in the room.

The two-tailed fox walked out, rubbing his eyes and blushing slightly and looked around. "Ms. Rabbit, next time you should warn me when you…" he began, blinking as if he had been drinking the night before. He looked up, the light still blinding slightly as he looked around, and his jaw dropped. Sheepishly, his cousin stood before him as she gave a slightly nervous wave in his direction, her eyes darting and fixing on a point just passed him. He looked down for a moment, as Cream walked over and hugged Ryuu's arm. She looked rather cross.

"You aren't going to say anything mean to her will you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Cream waited impatiently for an answer. From what she knew, Tails and Ryuu didn't get on so well. It was rather like a stiff politeness between them, because why would what family—the little Tails had left—would want to avoid him?

He shrugged slightly, as he looked up at his cousin again, this time trying to smile. "Well, Ryuu… it's been a while…" he said, placing a hand on the back of his head and laughing slightly in a rather nervous tone. He looked up at Ryuu, receiving no response; he dared to continue on with his greeting, while toying with the idea that maybe he should just leave. "I-uh, well, have been rather worried. Sonic isn't happy that I have been hiding my real reason for not fixing the Tornado to fly to Emerald City to check on the new resting place for the Emeralds…"

Ryuu looked at her cousin instantly. She hated the Emeralds. They were the reason her condition had advanced so quickly. She scoffed, looking away from him. "Curse the Emeralds, Cousin, and all that they stand for. Had they never been created, we would have never had any problems in the first place with that freaking human called Eggman. Better if they were destroyed."

Tails was taken aback by her sudden fierceness that his eyes widened. He then shook his head and backed away to the door and opened it. "Thanks for the insight. Sonic was right: you would only be distant again. Get a grip, Ryuu. The world isn't such a bad place."

Ryuu was read with a counter. "Oh shut up! At least you can walk around in the sun. I have to stay clear from it at all times. Do me a favor and get the fuck out of here!" she cursed. Ryuu watched as her cousin flinched at her retort, opened his mouth to respond but ended up closing it and backed out and closing the door behind him with is ears back. She could hear sniffles outside the door as the doctor came in, looking cheerful and calling forth Ryuu to be looked at.


	2. Chapter 2: Enter Anna

Chapter Two: Enter Anna

In her dream she could see the sorrow of the white cat all too well. She did nothing, however, but watch how she treated her cousin. This one she found to be a rather interesting creature. Perhaps she could be the right one to try it… Anna, a purple cat, rose up and rubbed her eyes. She flashed her teeth to her father who stood over her in his long black cloak smiling slightly at her. The older black cat nodded to her, having seen her dreams as well. He nodded to her, tracing her jaw line and placing a kiss on her forehead. "Anna, my darling," he asked in a heavily Northern European accent, "you found the one you have been waiting for?"

Anna grinned with her pearly-whites, and got up, pulling on her dark purple short-sleeved hoodie and her white skirt, and pulled on her white shoes. She walked over and sat at her vanity, pulling her brush through her hair, a gentle midnight black, and through her tail. The old cat walked up behind his daughter and smiled approvingly. "The council will be delighted to have you successfully complete this task. Then you can have your seat where it belongs with the elders. Of course, we have talked over with King Max about what must be done. Your choice is fitting. May you be successful, my Anna."

She nodded, picking up two gold hearts, each on a separate silver chain. "Before I leave father," she said, her voice carrying no accent, "I want to at least stop by the council. I need to be sure I am pleasing them." Anna smiled even wider when her father nodded in approval. She kissed his forehead, jumping out the window of their apartment from the seventh floor and breathed in the air of the new day. Anna smiled, checking her wrist for two gold bangles that clanged lightly on her arm, and listened to the sounds of cars and other Mobians on the main rode two blocks over. She sniffed the air, and then took off to a run, dodging the other city inhabitants as she made her way to an important looking building.

She arrived, the area looking rather regal. She passed by a large fountain and tossed in a coin. Her ear flicked when she heard the coin land in the water after she was about six feet away. The glace door on the modern looking building slid to allow her passage, and Anna walked several meters before she reached an elevator, and tapped the up arrow button with her finger. The silver door slid open, and others passed before she stepped in and pressed the three button. Anna checked her appearance in the elevator while it rose, making sure that she was ok. Not long after, it dinged and the door rolled open to a long hall. It was simple with old wallpaper that looked at least five decades old. She walked down the hall to a waiting room with a secretary beagle that looked up at her behind her spectacles. "Do you have an appointment, ma'am?"

The voice caught her off guard. It had a hint of annoyance. Anna smiled brightly, and shook her head. "No, ma'am. I don't. But if you have any disputes, then please by all means take that up with Master Rayne Alley," Anna responded with a happy voice. The secretary shook when she heard that name, and buzzed Anna through with no problem.

Anna nodded to the beagle, and walked on through. The door swung open, and closed, with the area completely dark. She blinked, her crimson eyes adjusting to the dark when small flames lit up along the wall. They revealed the hall to be made of some type of regal dark marble. Anna walked forward, her smile fading and as she walked a bit slower until she reached the destination. It was a poorly lit room with a cathedral-like ceiling, the floor made of a dark gem, hard and cold like the stares that looked down at her. Even though there was lack of light, it wasn't hard to see that there were looming, black-cloaked figures looking down at her from a high perch behind a stone elongated desk. Their gazes, red like hers, looked cold and unwelcoming. The foremost of them spoke to Anna as she reached the center of the room and stood to face them.

"Daughter of Master Rayne," boomed the voice, making Anna whimper slightly. "You have come to report with us. What is it that you wish to present to us?"

She gulped slightly, holding her hand out with the two hearts. The council members' eyes narrowed on the objects, then on Anna. "Daughter of Master Rayne, going to attempt the task again, are you? You better succeed this time, youngling. We are tired of your screw ups over the centuries. It would be shame to make you loose your proper place where your father once sat, neh?" The council chuckled coldly when Anna stiffened up. They continued away, seeing her reaction as nothing more than an aside.

"Now, your attempts have been fruitless up until now. If you fail this time you and your newborn will be executed. We had a deal with the good doctor that we must keep. Now, take this, young Mistress Anna, and use it if you must. Your little charms will not be strong enough, though none of us can wield this… but you can it seems. Make damn sure you do this right."

After the little speech, Anna saw a black gem appear in her hand. She gasped, looking up at the elder. "The Black Emerald?" she said, looking up at the elder. She knew that he meant business. With this, she knew that if she failed, she would become one with the Emerald as her mother did when her mother tried to create her own child after being disowned by her father, Rayne. "B-but my mother is in there!" she exclaimed. She looked furiously up at the elders, their dark smiles flashing their own sharp fangs, daring her to challenge them to a fight.

The one who had spoken before laughed coldly once again, and answered her. "Good, then you know your fate. Keep that as a reminder of your failure will carry the same fate as you have. Go on now, little Daughter of Master Rayne. Let's hope you are not a failure like your late mother, young one. No, go!"

Before she could leap out at the council members, she was engulfed in a white light, and she stood at her place where she sat that morning to brush her tail and hair. Her father looked at her as she reappeared, his smile still plastered to his face. Anna growled at him, bearing her fangs at the man she called her father and a hiss ripped from deep within her throat. Rayne's smile faded, as a hiss from him answered hers. "Silence, Annabelle! You know not to raise such a temper with me. You understood what your mother did was wrong, even when she was married. You need to mind the counsel and their rules. Now, do yourself a favor and leave!"

Anna looked at Rayne, shocked at her father's reaction. She fought back another hiss, leaping from the window and running into the crowds. Rayne looked after her, shaking his head. "She will be the death of me one of these days…" Rayne mumbled to himself, turning to a picture of his late wife and stroking the frame as a look of sorrow overtook his complexion.


End file.
